Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

5 reviews

klor's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

I absolutely adored the magical realism, almost sci-fi aspects of this book. I think it was cool how it all got tied up together at the end and how the book feels very light. While the writing is not at all bad, I felt like it became too redundant at times and a moment just circles into itself again and again. The concept could have been executed a little better in the first 2/3s of the book. Still, I thought this was a very whimsical and reflective read

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror and Infidelity

waytoomanybooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

This book was a gut punch. It was consistently sad the whole way through, but it ends on a hopeful note, at the very least. It's about an emotionally broken family that never heals. It's about childhood disappointments that turn into regrets in adulthood. It's about not fitting in, no matter your age or position in life. This is not a pick-me-up, but it is beautifully written. The gorgeous language is what made me keep turning the pages, and quickly, too!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Medical trauma, and Medical content

Moderate: Body horror

sssssoup's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Okay so. What the fuck.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Grief, Infidelity, Eating disorder, and Medical content

Minor: Toxic friendship, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cursing, and Death

seawarrior's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is a really odd story, but one I practically fell into, as I read it in the course of one evening, only pausing to eat dinner. After finishing it, I'm left with a kind of melancholy emptiness. The most striking theme in this story to me is one of grief, both for youthful ignorance lost, and for realizing you never found the words to unlock your family members, the same people who sat alongside you and spoke to you daily for years upon years, and never really got to know the most important pieces to them, until suddenly you had run out of time. As confused as this book made me feel during some chapters, I think those are pains most of us can relate to, although we wish we didn't.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Dementia, Death of parent, Infidelity, Medical content, Toxic friendship, and Body horror

Minor: Alcohol, Sexual content, and Eating disorder

bencaroline's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder and Mental illness

Moderate: Ableism, Confinement, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Sexism, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Addiction, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Terminal illness, and Body horror

The addiction I perceive in this book is so nontraditional, even magical, that I didn't give it more than a "minor" designation, but to me, the theme of addiction is pervasive. The disordered eating in this book is similarly magical, but because the book is centered around food and eating and the protagonist's struggle with these things, I marked it as 'graphic.'